Settling the Score
by Rich Knarrenheinz
Summary: The Punisher plans to end Norman Osborn s Dark Reign once and for all... and not even Daken or the entire HAMMER army are going to stop him,in a story full of action and brutality


**The Punisher Fan Fic**

**Settling the Score**

Hey heyy! Diclonius here, this first Fic is based on the events of Dark Reign: The List. As background, Frank Castle decided to kill Norman Osborn (Green Goblin/Iron Patriot, recently turned the most influential man in the world), but the attempt failed, and Osborn decides to take revenge and both men try to defeat each other for months. Frank finds help in the form of Henry, a hacker, and they´re suddenly attacked by supervillains sent by Osborn to kill them. They barely survived, and then Norman decides to finish the job once and for all… this Fic starts from those events, and Daken (son of Wolverine).

**ONLY FOR 18+**

**GRAPHIC SCENES OF INTENSE VIOLENCE, AND ADULT SITUATIONS**

**TRANSLATED VERSION, ORIGINAL IS IN SPANISH**

**The Punisher belongs to Marvel Comics.**

**Chapter 1: Manhunt**

-_Frank… Frank… never forget us… never… we will be waiting for you…__-_

_-¡MARIA!-_

I open my eyes abruptly with the sound of the clock´s alarm, lying on the bed me and Henry managed to get inside the delivery truck, parked in a quiet area between the cargo boxes for the ships, at the docks… cold as stone, as every morning… waking to the same nightmare… Maria and my children burning right in front of me, I can´t manage to forget it. I get up, and take out a soda from the mini fridge, then I sit to drink it, noticing my wounds still alive and bleeding under the bandages, the damage from the battle against those villains. Those fuckers managed to escape… I look to the recorder, there´s a message, I push the button and hear carefully:

-Frank… Frank? You there? Fuck man, answer to me! I know you´re mad at me, but this shit is important. I was trolling at HAMMER´s internal chat, and I found out Osborn is up to something big. He´s dedicating his whole organization to one objective… you Frank, they´re coming to kill you. -

I´m not even surprised for what I´m hearing. Suddenly I hear the computers´ alarms, installed inside the truck, their sensors were activated by some big vehicle nearby, and it´s the HAMMER´s helicarrier… It´s about time, Red, I thought you´d never come… I start to prepare for anything, put my costume on, the one with the white gloves and boots, and hanged my weapons on my back: a Dragunov sniper rifle, a M-60 and an AR-15 Armalite, along my standard guns and knives. As soon as I get out from the back of the truck, I saw the helicarrier flying over my head, that gigantic structure made of solid iron floating above. Without warning, that thing started launching a lot of missiles up the front, White projectiles with a red tip and the HAMMER logo painted on the sides, driven by a burst of fire, flying fast towards me. I´m still dizzy, and I barely managed to notice the danger.

-Ah, shit!-

Managed to throw myself forward, but it wasn´t enough, the explosion´s shockwave sent me flying several feet, crashing me with painful force to a trash can, I can feel the heat burning my skin, they´re light burns though, and little pain, no big deal. Takes me a couple of seconds to supress the pain and get on my feet again, and I head towards an alley to evade capture… but nothing´s so easy for me, as I look back and see the whole fleet of glider troops under Red´s orders, dressed with blue uniforms, similar to old SHIELD´s, and hi-tech helmets that sure as hell can detect my body heat and other signals to find me. Damn federal brainless thugs… but in the end they´re cops, so they get non lethal solutions. I take an electrified cable from my backpack and I quickly attach both ends to the alley´s walls. I look back, and see three of them hitting the thing and falling unconscious by the 5000 volts discharge. I turn left in the next alley and I almost tripped on Henry, the skinny, nerdy boy who has been helping me out, riding his floating skateboard

-Frank! Thank goodness I find you, there´s four helicarriers searching for you, we gotta…-

He couldn´t even finish his phrase, I lift him grabbing his neck and I smash his head against the Wall, knocking him out instantly. If he found me so easily, either hens here to help me, or more probably he´s working for the bad guys… anyway, he should be in the freezer… I get him inside a trash container and run forward, with the glider troops tailgating me. I think the strategy, and it´ll be better if I enter the sewers so I can lose them in a more subtle way. As soon as I see one, I take a trash can´s cover to shield myself against the bullets from the soldiers. Some of them hit me in the chest, but don´t manage go get through my kevlar… some shots hit me in the leg though, as I throw myself inside the sewer, and I feel the bullets tearing inside my tendons and tissue before exiting the leg from the opposite side. I lose balance and fall to the sewer´s floor, lying on my side, with filthy water covering my body. When I stand up again I realize my leg´s broken because of the fall… it can still lift my body, and it´s all that matters. I walk really slowly, getting used to the broken bone, but then a soldier threw some pumpkin bombs down the sewer. I try to jump far from it once again, hitting the floor hard as the bombs lifts dust, water and smoke all around me. Stand up again Frank… stand up. My le gis trembling, and the stinky water is filling the holes on my tigh… well, maybe that´ll strengthen my immune system… gotta stay positive, disaster is another word for opportunity… there´s always a new opportunity behind every corner… and I just walk into one, looking behind it to see the next tunnel… and what I see makes me shout

-Fuck me…-

-That´s the idea!- He shouted

It´s Daken, Wolverine´s boy, criminal, murderer and a pawn for Osborn´s corrupt government, who seems to be more determined to kill me than ever… fine by me, fewer wasted bullets that way. Daken´s using a costume very similar to his father´s, same yellow and brown design… no matter how hard he tries to be like him, it´s the same clown, he´s just in a different circus.

He threw a slash with his claws directly to my face. I react just I time to evade it, and jump to put some distance between us. That´s it Red… hire all the killers you can, surround yourself with the armies you want, but I´m after ya, I´m going to kill you, and nothing´s gonna stop me this time. I quickly draw one of my guns and start firing to his chest to win some time. He dodges the bullets with ease

-Claws… never saw the appeal, guns are faster, got better distance… -

-Unless the target is faster than the clumsy old man behind the gun… and I am – he replied

He´s closing up fast, claws before him, I manage to block some of his attacks but he has me cold, and one claw gets to sear through my stomach. I growl because of the pain, but also I grab him by his shoulders, get close and bite one of his eyes off, and I discreetly attach a explosive device to his right shoulder, a C4 with a timer programmed for 40 seconds. The eye´s taste is awful, adding to it the slimy texture and the white liquid dripping from its nerves. I push Daken, smashing him to the ground, spit the eye to his face and shoot several times to his stomach, covering the bleeding of my new wound with my free hand.

-You´re not the real Wolverine, just a cheap copycat… Red should choose his assassins better, give me something worth of getting out of bed. -

I turn my back on him, need to gain more time if I want to survive this… the healing factor bullshit is always a headache… it´s really difficult to kill someone with that power… they feel like they´re great warriors, but somebody sooner or later has to show ´em they´re nothing without that ability.

-You just made this go from work to fun time, Castle… don´t go up, up there´s not what you´re looking for, it´s just an execution party… down here, just you and me, that´s how you wanna die, Frank. -

I start to climb a ladder to get out of the sewer, and then take another that leads to a rooftop. I see Daken following me, but the C4 blasts off just in time, making him fall all the way back into the sewers. Good, valuable seconds, I must take advantage. However my wounds start to hurt more and make me climb slowly this ladder… which seems to be infinite to me… stopped counting after the 25th floor. Yesterday´s lunch spilling from my stomach, my leg filled with stinky water… septic soon. As I climb I feel the cold rain pouring in my face, cold as ice… I didn´t expect rain so early. I do my best to reach the rooftop, and first thing I see is dozens and dozens of agents riding their gliders, aiming their weapons towards me.

I take the M60, ready for the firefight, but then I hear a familiar voice behind me

-No… I´ll gut this pig myself, leave it to me… you´re just a roach, Castle, barely worthy of my time-

-Gonna lose all night…? or you´re gonna get to work, boy? -

We glared hatefully at each other, the tension in the air was growing. Many things pass through my mind, but one stands out from the others… I must kill Red, it´s the only way to get out of this and get rid of the corruption of this city… and this country… he suddenly launches his attack, slashing his claws, and one manages to stab my chest and sink a couple inches, but then I grab his head and smash it against the ground, making it crack and even break. He replies with a kick, striking right at my face, making me stand back, but also giving me time to get a pistol out and shoot him between the eyes a couple times but he doesn´t give a shit and stabs my arm with his claws, making me let go of the gun. I make some distance between us, and realize guns ain´t gonna get this job done… so I draw two of my knives.. a small one, which was attached to my ankle, and a bigger one, almost as big as a machete, that was hanging in my back. I attack with rage, stabbing his forehead with the small knife, and tearing his stomach apart with the other, Japanese sepukku style… I even can see part of his intestines spilling out on the floor. Before he can push me away, I draw back the knives and grab his arms, trying to control his movements before the eyes of all the soldiers enjoying the show.

-You seriously think you´re gonna win doing this, Castle? Stabbing me with your pathetic little knives? I´m gonna give you the death you deserve, bled out like the dog you are-

-Shut up and learn boy-

I use here my skills learned in ´Nam, I tame his force and throw him over my shoulder, forcing him to smash against the edge of the building, almost falling down in the process… a chance I cannot miss. The boy´s good however, he headbutts me in the face, making me a little dizzy, but not enough to prevent me seeing his claw flying towards me. I evade it, punch him in the back of the neck, and use his own momentum to grab his arm and throw him out of the rooftop, to a void several stories high.

-Bon voyage-

But he takes me off guard, grabs my ankle and pulls me down with him… as we started falling, I took a glance at the grey, clouded sky, the rain washing off my face… I see Maria, so beautiful, greeting me from above… But I know I´m not lucky enough to die, I must get to work. Daken´s screaming like a little girl as we fall…

-Shut the fuck up-

I stab him in the back of the neck with the little knife, so I can control him and prevent him from trying to kill me… still several feet from the ground. I hear a soldier yell "Fire!" and a shower of bullets is coming this way… they know they can´t kill Daken with that, and their orders are to kill me at all costs… that gives me an idea. One shot hits me in the shoulder and the blood quickly starts to spill, but something as little as that can´t stop me, so I put the guy in a horizontal position and use him as a "human" shield. The trick seems to work, and I feel his body shattering and tearing apart with the downpour of bullets ripping his flesh and his costume, staining it red and leaving a trail of smoke behind. Daken only can grumble from the pain, because the bullets are so many they even fill his throat, preventing him from talking, or even screaming.

From the sky started to fall pumpkin bombs, the same type the Goblin used and instructed his minions to control. I quickly react and get out of their way, noticing that they have a blind spot next to the wall. With the knife firmly grabbed, I push Daken´s head forward, towards the building, and smash it to stay on the blind spot… now is when he really tries to scream, his skin, skull and eyes being shredded and teared into pieces because of the friction against the concrete. His mask is completely destroyed, and for brief moments I almost let him go because of his face hitting brutally against balconies and objects along the building, making his bones crush with a delightful sound. I stick to him, almost riding his body as a sleigh… making me remember those stupid Christmas TV specials, with kids sliding on the snow and singing Jingle Bells… well riding this guy´s body, crushing it to death would be a perfect way of spending the holidays.

We´re about to reach the ground, and I do the most logical thing to do: use Daken as a landing zone. I pull him away from the wall and ride his back, my knees on specific points of his spine so I can do the greatest damage possible. We finally reach the concrete, and his body crumbles with the impact, crushing his bones, breaking the concrete and launching me several feet in another direction. I rebound on the floor a couple times before my movement stops… I feel the bruises and cuts resulting from the fall, but again it´s nothing too big. I lie down for some seconds, getting soaked by the rain, some lightning illuminates the scene briefly, and the thunder is right behind… I get up finally, and I see Daken´s wounds are so big and so many, he can´t stand on his feet… time to finish the job once and for all. I quickly jump, my feet on his hands so he can´t move. He stares at me hatefully, and tries to talk with a barely hearable voice, spitting blood.

-No… you can´t kill me, you fucking bug… in the end, it´s gonna be me, dancing on your grave… asshole…-

-You know what? I used to think it was impossible to kill morons with the healing factor, such as Deadpool or your father, but it´s easier than it looks. It´s just that nobody has the guts to use the necessary methods, and guys like me end up taking care of scumbags like you… it´s been always like that…-

-Ha…. haha… and what are you going to do, genius? You can´t finish me off… others would replace me, whole HAMMER is after you, there´s no way you´re gonna get out of this alive, Castle…-

-Maybe… what´s more, the agents could put a bullet right between my eyes right now… but I can tell you something… just for doing this, it´ll worth it-

I kick his face, breaking his nose. He screams, and I proceed with the final methods… knife in hand, I use the edge to slit his throat, going deeper and deeper with quick movements, back and forth, staining my face and suit with his blood. Gotta finish soon, before the others catch up with me. Daken agonizes beneath my feet, rivers of blood coming out his throat, and he chokes on it, life itself draining out of his body… motivating me to cut even faster and more fiercely. His skin and tendons start to separate from the rest of his body, his eyes blank, disappearing all life from them, his lasts moments, the agony of a life led only to hurt the innocent, to destroy many lives… karma´s working beautifully in this piece of shit, and I´m delivering the punishment.

After some minutes of frantic butchery, his head finally comes off. I raise it with my hand and look at his expression, the mark of his last minutes on earth, full of pain, paying for all his crimes… but this is just the beginning… I don´t smile much… don´t smile ever… but if I did, this would be one. Anyway, I have to make sure this scumbag doesn´t come back breathing, so I leave the head on the floor, take the M60 and with two precise hits I smash it to pieces, spilling all over the alley. Damn… my boots are all sticky now, brains are really hard to clean out, what a waste… Daken´s body will remain here, as a sign for Red, a sign to announce his time is coming… but first I have to regroup, get rid of his minions and make a plan to get on his helicarrier.

I´m running through the alleys again, I can´t risk to waste any more non lethal weapons with these dumbfucks, I must ration them for when I really need them. My leg hurts again, this time much worse than before… it´s logical, after so many things, the blood coming out of my wounds doesn´t help, scorching with pain.

A beep suddenly catches my attention. As a reaction, I draw my gun for a possible threat, but after a better look there´s no one following me for the moment, and I realize the noise is coming from the radio in my costume, I quickly put on the headphone and the mini microphone

-Hello…?-

-Uh… Frank? Dude, I didn´t think you would´ve survived this long, this shit has turned into a real manhunt.-

-Henry? So, you woke up already… tell me something: are you working for Osborn? Maybe it was you who gave him the truck´s location, so he could find me easily.

-Don´t be stupid man, c´mon, you know that with or without my help Osborn was gonna find us sooner or later, he has the entire government´s resources, all of it turned against us… we have to make a good plan if we want to survive. -

-Great… you better not be lying, or you´ll going to end the same way as Microchip… so, what do you have in mind? -

-First things first: we have to get our hands on some computers so I can crack HAMMER´s system and we can find the helicarrier´s weak spots so you can attack it. You also must have some hi tech weapons and equipment if you want to get on that thing and kill Osborn… it´s probably crawling with guards, adding to it a couple of super humans as bodyguards, and in the top of it he´s always wearing his Iron Patriot armor… you´re gonna need a bunch of heavy artillery shit to get to it and come back alive. Do you really wanna do it? – he says, with a nervous voice

-Of course I want, it´s been my responsibility to kill that smiling jackal, since he used me because of my amnesia, to try to kill Spider-Man, some years ago… and now that he´s the leader of a corrupt regime, driven by murderers and criminals, I want to end his poisonous life even more. So… let´s get started: where are we going to get the equipment so you can hack the system?-

-About that… there´s an old work station I used to have long before we met, it´s been abandoned for some years and the machines are a bit old, but I think I can make them work again. -

-Ok… and where is it exactly? I´ll meet you there as soon as I can lose those idiots.-

-It´s south to the East River… and about your soldier problems, I have two good news: one is that the old tunnels used long ago by the drug dealers are free of HAMMER´s forces, there´s probably still a couple guys there, but once you take care of them you´ll be able to hide there until the troops search for you in another place. -

-An escape route, good… but how can I make them lose track of me before I enter the tunnels? They could see me entering them and follow me inside. -

-That´s the other good new, the one you didn´t let me say when you knocked me out back there in the alley… remember I was hacking in HAMMER´s system? Well, before the truck exploded, taking to hell all our computers, I casually checked the organization´s database… their troops are mostly conformed by ex convicts and criminals, dragged along by Osborn… almost all of the real cops were fired or sent to do minor work- -

-So you´re trying to say that the losers following me aren´t good guys, and I can kill them without having to worry if they were cops or not… right?-

-Yup-

-Henry, I have to say this, that´s the best thing you´ve told me today… I´m going to take care of them, and I´ll meet you at the East River base ASAP… just tell me how to get there -

-But Frank… how the fuck are you gping to kill them all and then hide? It´s whole HAMMER following you, man! We´re talking about hundreds of soldiers, and you can´t possibly have enough ammo to repel such an attack… but I know, I know… you´re not gonna listen to me as always, so here´s the base location: go to the East River from your position, then go south, search for 148th street, and there you´ll see an abandoned building, color green. Enter the building and there will be some stairs that take to a manual elevator, ride on it and you´ll get to the underground base.-

-I´m obviously not going to kill the entire HAMMER squads, for now… I´ll kill the numbers necessary until the streets are clear enough to enter the tunnels without being spotted. When I´m there, try to be near my position and give me a SitRep through the radio, sooner or later they´ll start searching for me elsewhere and then we can concentrate on hacking the system… and got it, I know a good path to get to your base. -

-All right Frank… be careful man, you´re our biggest hope to free this country of Osborn´s grip -

-Consider it done… I´ll contact you when I´ve reached the tunnels, and you better answer me. Over and out. -

I push the button to stop transmitting, take off the headphone and kneel to load the M60 with a fresh piercing bullet belt… gotta use it carefully, I have only three of these. I stand up and run again, heading to the tunnels, by looking at what street I am, I´m not too far from there, and I think I can take 60 or 70 agents with a single bullet belt, if I aim correctly. I enter a small alley, without paying attention to the pain caused by my wounds, my boots now make a squeaky noise because of the blood and brains sticking on them, and it stopped raining so I can wash them for now… dammit… a dozen soldiers heard the noise and are now in front of my, blocking my path.

Only a few seconds passed, then they opened fire with their futuristic weapons, which seem to be taken from a nerdy sci fi movie. I quickly take cover behind a dumpster, dodging their bullets and energy bolts. As soon as they needed to reload I take the lead, get out and shoot some burst from the M60, killing five of them. I see the bag where they keep their pumpkin bombs, hanging to their waist, similar to the Goblin´s original "Trick Bag". I have an idea. Still moving quickly, I shoot to the bag of the nearest agent, surrounded by his allies, the bullets make the bombs inside explode violently. I have to cover my face with my arm so I can stand the heat wave of the explosion, and when I open my eyes I see most of them dead, and the only surviving two are agonizing in the ground, burned and taterred. I stand before them and I end their misery without even looking at them, a couple bullets to their heads. I keep moving and keep an eye on the bullet belt also… got 90 bullets left, good amount, but not enough against the forces I´m going to face. The alley ends and leads me to a big avenue, with some cars and a few people walking along, and I cross it as fast as I can, dodging some people and avoiding getting run over, but before I can reach the next alley, a following soldier throws a pumpkin bomb to the car I just passed by… I hear it bouncing on the car´s roof…

-You gotta be shitting me…-

The explosions sends me off forward, and I land on my face. My legs are less and less responding as I continue to receive damage… they tremble as I stand up using the machine gun as support. The same fuck who threw the bomb attempts to repeat, but I´m ready this time. I plant on both feet, and hit back the bomb to it´s owner with a swing from the M60, knowing that these cheap imitations of Goblin´s arsenal explode on the second or third impact with solid objects. The bomb blasts off and destroys the glider, blowing it and it´s rider to pieces.

-Home run…-

Before I keep on moving I take a look to the name of this Street… I´m heading in the right direction. The best way to get there is to run between some more dark and filthy alleys. This is the heart of New York… the real New York. The tourists in Central Park, the Empire State´s visitors… all of that is just an illusion, the Bronx, Queens… they represent the rotten heart of the Big Apple, the heart that feeds on the blood and the hope of those stupid enough to enter it. Never fall in New York… no one´s gonna catch you. These thoughts keep gambling in my head as I run, surrounded by 5 stories high buildings, inhabited by yuppies, cast out from Hell´s Kitchen, now known as Clinton… heavy atmosphere, moist coming out from the sewers, stinky dumpsters, rats and roaches roaming freely, a grey, depressing habitat… your typical NY scene.

The alley´s getting narrower, to the point only two people can walk through it. I hang the M60 to my back, and unsheathe another knife, serrated and razor-sharp, the ideal weapon for this kind of area. I hear footsteps behind me, probably infantry following me. I turn around, draw one of my Berettas. I shoot and kill all three of the soldiers in front of me, bullets piercing their chests and foreheads. I try to walk more quietly as the buildings keep darkening the path, not that there was much light to begin with. Unfortunately my boots keep making that annoying sound as I move, all sticky from the brains of Daken. Now there´s a crossroad… gotta be careful, and decide to look to the right side first. I lean my self to the wall, gun at hand, and look to the other side of the alley, and I´m repulsed by what I´m seeing.

It´s a whorehouse, probably being run by one oh Hood´s associates. I give it a better look, and it´s the kind of scene that makes me puke: barrel full of kerosene burning and giving light to a dead en alley, full of 16-17 year old girls, barely dressed with miniskirts, high heels and showing their breasts. One is being punched by the pimp, the clients are bums, hobos, and corrupted office men wait for their turn to get laid with one of them.

I can hear screams and moans coming from inside the building, old and abandoned, being guarded by two gunners outside the door. There are girls snorting coke, and injecting heroine, some don´t look any older than 14… their lives and future dissolved in a disgusting chemical soup, dreaming of the next fix. Red can lie all he wants on his brainwashing TV spots, truth is that crime has only augmented since he is in charge… and that makes my blood boil. It´s enough… I get out of my safe spot, and the gunners are shocked

-The… P..P.. Punisher! You´re supposed to be dead!-

-Think twice, maggot… your filthy business ends with your lives. -

I opened fire, the first shot right between his eyes. His partner tries to fight back shooting twice, one hits the ground and the other my chest, stopped by the kevlar. I take advantage and kill him with a bullet through his cheek, and as soon as he falls I´m in front of the "costumers".

-No! Please don´t kill us man… We´re innocent, we´re here just out of desperation- begs an office man

-There´s no excuse… you were supporting it, ruining lives, causing pain… you´re all guilty -

No need to waste bullets on them, I use my knife to start a dance of death, slicing throats, stabbing eyeballs, cutting through chests and stomach, one of them tries to escape and I stab the back of his neck, sinking the knife until it goes through the brain, I take it back, throw another one to the ground and slice his neck… the last one standing is the pimp, cornered in the back of the alley. To this point, al the girls are running, scared to death, and the rest of the costumers are doing the same, still with their pants down. I can´t let them go alive, so I shoot them all. I return to the pimp, and stab fiercely my knife through his open mouth, going deeper and deeper until the edge of the knife touches the wall behind him. The scene is peaceful now, corpses lying on pools of their own blood, organs, and crimson liquid spilled all over the walls. Then I try to talk to the girls:

-Are you all right?-

One of them stepped forward, a somwhat 35 year old woman, with a face marked by the drug abuse

-Yeah, we´re fine… you´re Frank Castle, right? The Punisher… -

-Correct-

-Thanks for your help! Those bastards were ruining our lives, most of us were kidnapped and forced to be hookers, making us junkies in the process. Now we must find a way to survive from no won. -

-That can be fixed -

I approach to the pimp´s body, registering his clothes, finding a wallet full of money… 10,000 dollars. I take it all and give it to the woman.

-This should be enough to live in some nice place. – I said

-Thank you… thank you… how can we reward you? -

-Go to rehab -

I go back through the alley and reload my gun, leaving the old magazine behind. I feel some kind of satisfaction… some kind of inner peace, because of being able to give a better future to those girls back there. It´s one of the reasons why I do what I do, why I became the Punisher that tragic day in Central Park… with my family dying before my eyes. I survived for a reason, and that reason is to punish all those who deserve it. However, what fuels me the most is hate… hate towards the criminals, like a napalm bomb burning through my veins… my only life objective is to see each and every single thug dead, every corpse in the morgue being one less piece of shit that won´t disturb the streets anymore. I love the smell of dead gangsters in the morning…

Anyway, I gotta keep the eye on the ball… I return to the crossroad and take the opposite way, the correct one to reach my destiny. Rain is starting to fall once again, and finally the red starts to wash off the white parts of my costume… the water has a gentle touch on my wounds, and it´ll help to prevent infections from the septic water. A gunshot suddenly roars through the air, and I try to find the gun that fired it… but there´s no one, not in front or behind me. A second shot almost hits my arm, and I can see at last who is attacking me: I look up to the rooftops, where 7 soldiers are scattered on both sides of the alley. This time there isn´t any dumpster nearby for me to take cover, I must kill them fast, time has come for the Beretta to shine again, it´s fast enough for this. I draw it, and all of a sudden I fell like the world´s moving in slow motion, minutes seem to last forever, and I aim to the rooftops… One… the first bullet pierces the agent´s skull, making him fall like a dummy. Two… the second one hits the guy´s cheek, cracking through his skull and spilling red all over him. Three… he has already a bullet with his name on it, it tears his heart, making him die slower than his friends, screaming from the pain and desperately trying to stop the bleeding, until he finally dies. Four, five, six, seven… everyone ends up the same way, falling like flies before me.

-Amateurs…-

They´re just rookies on this game, probably just thieves, who barely knew how to shoot a gun, suddenly being armed with hi tech equipment to face an enemy too powerful for them. I go through the rest of the alley, which leads to a normal street, almost deserted because of the rain. I´m just a few blocks away from the tunnels. I look around before I keep moving, searching for another ambush… but they´re still a couple seconds behind me, and I run as fast as I can, passing bye more buildings, stores and apartments. The few people walking on the street are scared of me, and they run, thinking I will hurt them, I don´t have time for explaining… no one understands me… maybe´s because of the big skull painted on my chest, I don´t know. I turn right, heading south, to a more peaceful street. The motor of more gliders roar behind me… this is starting to piss me off, and I´m too close to the tunnels, so I turn around to kill them all so they don´t see me entering the hideout. I sheathe the knife and the gun, the weapon of choice this time will be the AR 15, precise, reliable, powerful and I have more bullets for it than belts of the M60.

I prepare myself as they get closer and closer, this time there are 50 or 60 of them, both glider troops and foot soldiers. Without warning I open fire, aiming for the foot soldiers in front, in 5-6 bullet semiautomatic bursts, with a sweeping movement, right to left. I kill several soldiers in the process, as I move in zig zag putting some distance from them and dodging their shooting. I reach a delivery truck and jump behind it to take cover. Gotta cut them fast so I can enter the tunnels… I take a frag grenade from my backpack, let it cook for two seconds and throw it at them causing a tremendous explosion with lead and some shrapnel flying in all directions, killing dozens of agents. I take a closer look, most of them are dead or injured, lying on the ground, the remaining ones regrouping to attack again. Now the fight´s more fair, so I get out of my cover and change to full auto mode, letting all hell let loose on them , without caring to aim much. The adrenaline is so much I let a savage roar out of my throat as I continue the slaughter, decimating my enemies in a matter of seconds, until I run out of bullets. As I reload I keep a close eye to the scene before me, every single one of them lying on the ground. Burned, shot to death or injured... I have to finish this quickly.

The blood splattered all over the street washes away with the rain, erasing proof of what happened here. With a fresh magazine on my weapon, I proceed to kill the injured, to everything that moves, to the ones pretending to be dead… must be completely sure. After the cleansing, here´s my only chance… and I run with all my energy through the street to reach the tunnels, forty steps full of sweat, blood, stress and adrenaline… if a single one of them sees me entering, everything will fuck up and I won´t be able to regroup. My heart is beating faster and faster as I approach the old building that leads to the tunnels… cóm Frank, you can do it….

I´m running so fast I can´t stop in time and end up crashing against the door… the time has come… if anyone´s following me it´s over… it takes me a lot of will power to turn my head and look to the street behind me… not a single soul… I enter the building, more relaxed, and I´m received by the stench of moisture, product of years of abandon. This used to be an office complex, and I can barely see the reception, dark, old, full of dust and with spider webs all over it, looking more like a haunted house. I keep walking carefully through the room, almost in total darkness, and find the stairs that lead to the boiler room, feeling like I´m descending to the Hades. Then in the boiler room I see a secret trapdoor beneath the main boiler, throwing off clouds of dust as I open it. I go down some rusty metal stairs and finally reach my destiny, an intrincate system of underground tunnels, digged primitively, looking more like a mine. The path is dimly lighted by some fluorescent bulbs hanging from the ceiling. The atmosphere is suffocating, and it makes it hard to breathe. Time to plan my next step and rest… I lean to the tunnel´s wall and slide down so I can sit on the floor, and I push the radio´s button to contact Henry. It beeps four times, making me lose my patience, and then he finally answers.

-Frank? Do you hear me?- he says with a nervous voice.

-Yeah, loud and clear… I made it to the tunnels without anyone noticing… what about you? Where are you?-

-Thank goodness, I thought you wouldn´t make it… I´m five blocks away from your position, hiding inside a dumpster… old, but effective trick. – he chuckles

-So, what are the lectures of your Palm? Are they near us? -

-The energy and movement levels indicate they are near you, but searching in senseless moves… it´s clear they don´t know where you are or where to search, so you´re gonna be ok if you stay there for like 30 minutes until they go away and… holy shit! -

-What happened?-

-The device is detecting insane energy levels -

-How intense?-

-Frank, this shit is serious… the energy levels exceed those form a nuclear explosion -

-What?-

-It´s heading directly to your location, killing Osborn´s troops… you must get out of there! -

As he talks, I see 5 men, dressed like common thieves… probably drug dealers… I don´t have time for this. As son as they see me, they draw their guns and run towards me. I stand up, feeling a little better, and prepare to dispacth them.

-Frank… What´s happening?- said Henry

-I just have to do some cleaning, that´s all – I replied calmly

-But, the energy´s just…! -

-In front of me…-

And so it was… an orange, sun-like light comes out from the far end of the tunnel, and suddenly a flaming metal chain comes out of nowhere, wraps around the dealers and pulls them to the back of the tunnel. They scream and beg for their lives, and then complete silence… broken by a strange sound… a sound similar to a motorcycle engine… it roars and makes a tremendous noise… and then I see a familiar face, coming closer at full speed, laughing like a maniac with a hellish voice… this is getting interesting.

-Frank? What the fuck´s happening? What´s that energy?- Henry screams

-Not what… who…-

-Who?-

-Yes… And that´s Ghost Rider…-

**End of chapter 1**

So, this is it… it took me a kinda long time to translate this, and I´m satisfied by the results… I fell like the english versión is a Little more raw and brutal tan the spanish one… well only the reviews will tell me that. Only thing I can tell about the upcoming chapters, is that thye´ll be packed of action and killing, and towards chapter 3 a being as powerful as the flamehead will join this dream team. Thanks for reading, and have a thrashy day!


End file.
